Ange - Emile Jacotey

The follow-up to Au delà du délire saw Ange experimenting with a more rock-oriented sound with heavier guitar work, but their style remain as quirky and melodic as ever. This is a concept album based on stories told bold by an elderly shoemaker, with occasional excerpts of his stories spoken between tracks.
The song named "Bêle, Bêle Petite Chèvre" (Pretty, Pretty Little Goat!) is an impressive opening mixing strong guitar riffs, Christian Decamps' outrageous French vocals, and some keyboards imitating a glockenspiel. Typical Ange, really. "Jour Après Jour" and "Sur la Trace des Fées" are more ballad-like in nature, and allow Christian Decamps to emote in a somewhat less histrionic way, displaying his great vocal versatility. The latter ballad reminds me unaccountably of the sort of thing David Bowie would sing in his more reflective moments.
None of the songs on this album are surprising in terms of overall structure. Ange still insert inspired pieces of madness and the vocal acrobatics add spice in a love-em-or-hate-em way.
Fans of other Ange works will almost certainly consider this an essential album. There is plenty of good material here, despite a couple of flat spots. If you don't mind over the top French vocals, this a pretty safe album to buy for fans of seventies symphonic prog. It is not necessarily a bad place to start with Ange.

Tracklist

01 Bêle, Bêle petite Chèvre
02 Sur la Trace des Fées
03 Le Nain de Stanislas
04 Jour après Jour
05 Ode à Emile
06 Ego et Deus
07 J'Irai Dormir plus Loin que ton Sommeil
08 Aurealia
09 Les Noces
10 Le Marchand de Planètes